Matthew 5: But I Say to You, Love Your Enemies

Introduction

"Forgiving someone who has hurt you is not easy." Pastor Pitou does not hide the difficulty. During the Sunday service of October 4, 2026 at EPEB Dieu Puissant, he continues a theme begun in an earlier sermon: loving and forgiving our enemies.

He says it right from the start: forgiving seems very hard to us, especially when it comes to our enemies. Yet this is the recommendation of the Lord Jesus Christ, "the one in whom we have believed." That morning, he dwells on a phrase Jesus repeats in Matthew 5: "You have heard that it was said… But I tell you."

This is not the word of a man, he insists, it is "the word of the Master." And what the Master asks is impossible to live out alone, but possible through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Message Outline

1. Review: How and Why to Love Your Enemies

Last time, the pastor had asked a question: how do we love our enemies? He had pointed to Luke 23:34, where Jesus prays for those who crucify him.
Five paths had been given: pray for our enemies, refuse revenge, keep a language that blesses, seek peace as far as possible, and let justice from above act instead of seeking to take revenge.
Then a second question: why love our enemies? To win the victory over evil, and to bear witness to the kingdom of God.
That Sunday, he turns to the third point, warning that he will not be able to finish it and will come back to it.

2. "But I Tell You": It Is Jesus Who Speaks

The congregation reads several passages from Matthew 5 (verses 21, 27, 33, 38, 43 and 44). The pastor asks which phrase comes back each time. The answer: "You have heard that it was said."
We had learned "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," to repay evil with evil, to hate our enemies. Jesus brings something else: "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, pray for those who persecute you."
The pastor picks up a phrase often repeated by the Church's senior pastor: in the Bibles where the words of Jesus are printed in red, "it is the Lord himself speaking." Here, it is neither a prophet nor a disciple.
If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other also. If someone takes your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat. "It is not easy. You have to carry God's heart to manage to do all of this."
The goal is given by Jesus himself: that you may be called sons of the Most High (Matthew 5:45). If we believe he is the way, the truth and the life, we must walk according to his instructions.

3. God's Love Gave Everything

"God so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (John 3:16). The Lord did not look at our egos or at the state we were in, or at the color of our skin. He gave himself so that we might have eternal life.
The pastor is frank: the father of an only son, he admits he would not sacrifice him for the Church on the strength of a mere vision. "I stand before you, frank and honest." It is to measure how unique God's love is.
"We were all wandering like sheep, each one following his own way," and the iniquity that was on us fell on him (Isaiah 53:6). Jesus did not give up.
He picks up an example given last time: a 50-year-old woman sentenced to death in the United States, who proclaimed her innocence to the very end. Yet she had taken part in the murder she was accused of. "But there is someone who did not sin." Thinking of her, the pastor thought of Jesus: "an innocent man who died because of me."

4. A Child of God Keeps No Enemies in His Heart

The congregation reads 1 John 4:20, John 13:34 and 1 Corinthians 13:1. The observation: the Lord insists on love.
"You cannot claim to be a child of God as long as you still have enemies in your heart." You cannot beat your chest and say "I am a servant" if you know there are people you do not speak to, whom you do not greet, whose face irritates you.
When there is a problem, people part ways. "That is what the enemy wants": for the Church and the children of God to be divided.
The Bible gives advice: if your brother sins against you, go and talk to him. If he listens to you, you have won your brother (Matthew 18:15). And when a soul is won, there is joy in heaven (Luke 15:7). "We must seek to create the celebration."

5. "You Do Not Know What Kind of Spirit You Are Of"

Jesus wants to pass through a village on his way to Jerusalem. They refuse to receive him. The two sons of Zebedee ask: "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and destroy them?" (Luke 9:51-56)
"If it were you and me, we might well have done the same." Elijah had brought fire down in front of the prophets of Baal, so that people would know there is a God in Israel (1 Kings 18).
But Jesus rebukes them. The pastor puts these words in his mouth: "If I command the fire, I lose souls. I was sent not to lose, but to win." The fire will not come down.
He applies this to anger: "When anger leads you to do just anything, it is because you do not know what is driving you." Some say that when they are angry, they change. "It will do nothing, and you scare nobody."
If you do as the pagans do, what difference is there between you and them (Matthew 5:46-47)? Jesus says: forgive, humble yourselves. Where you were humiliated, bless. Whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 14:11), and humility comes before glory (Proverbs 15:33).
The pastor then invites the congregation to stand: whoever has no problem with anyone in the room goes to greet their brothers and sisters, "a good fraternal greeting in love."

6. Forgiving by the Power of the Holy Spirit

"Do not let the sun go down on your anger" (Ephesians 4:26). How many have fallen asleep angry? And it happens even in our homes, between fathers and mothers.
Every person's first reaction to a situation is anger. Then we take time to think, to pull ourselves together. "During those minutes, if the Lord came, you would miss heaven because of anger."
The pastor names the deepest wounds: the one who killed your son, the one who beat your mother or your father, the one who stabbed you and whose scar reminds you of his face. "Alone we are unable, alone we are limited."
"It is not by your strength, it is by the power of the Holy Spirit." We must surrender into his hands, because the message of Jesus is centered on love, and the nature of God is love.
If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat: you are heaping burning coals on his head (Romans 12:20).
"Do not shift the blame onto someone else. Do not say it does not concern you." Ask the Spirit of God for a new heart, the power to forgive, including those to whom you have sworn never to speak again.
The prayer that closes the message recalls that love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8) and, as the Church prepares for a 40-day fast, that if we do not forgive, God will not forgive our offenses either (Matthew 6:15).

Key Takeaways

"But I tell you": loving your enemies is not a pastor's idea, it is the word of Jesus himself.
God's love did not look at us according to what we deserved: the innocent died for the guilty.
You cannot call yourself a child of God while keeping in your heart people you refuse to greet.
Anger makes us call for fire from heaven. Jesus came to win souls, not to lose them.
Forgiving goes beyond our strength. It is the Holy Spirit who gives a new heart.

Personal Application

Is there someone you no longer greet, or whose face irritates you as soon as you see it?
In what recent situation did you, too, want to "command the fire" rather than bless?
Your brother or sister has sinned against you: when will you go and talk to them to win them back?
Have you fallen asleep angry in recent days, at home or at church?
What deep wound must you hand over to the Holy Spirit, asking him for a new heart?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "You have heard that it was said, but I tell you" mean in Matthew 5?

It is the phrase that keeps coming back in Matthew 5. For Pastor Pitou, it is neither a prophet nor a disciple speaking: it is Jesus himself, the Word made flesh. To the law of retaliation, he opposes a command: love your enemies, bless those who curse you, pray for those who persecute you.

Can you call yourself a child of God while keeping enemies in your heart?

Pastor Pitou answers that you cannot. You cannot call yourself a servant of God if you know there are people you do not greet or whose face irritates you. He relies on 1 John 4:20: how can you say you love God, whom you cannot see, if you do not love your brother, whom you can see?

How can you forgive when the wound is too deep?

The preacher acknowledges that on our own we are unable to forgive someone who has hurt us badly. It is not by your own strength, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. He invites us to surrender into his hands and to ask God for a new heart, one that is able to forgive.